Gary Stang, 63, pleaded guilty on Thursday of attempting to kill a protected migratory bird. He "attempted" to kill it because the bird he shot wasn't alive in the first place. But he didn't know that. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials have been watching the Fargo, N.D., hunter for four years and set up a sting. They set up a stuffed bald eagle to lure him into shooting it. He did. "In his mind, when he pulled the trigger, it was a live bird," said Special Agent Rich Grosz. Stang, who runs a hunting excursion business, was fined, got a year of probation and can't hunt in North America for one year.

Bank jobs

Are you serious?

A bank teller at the Roslyn Savings Bank in Long Island, N.Y., thwarted a bank robbery attempt on Thursday. A woman walked up to the teller and handed her a note demanding cash and threatening to open fire if she didn't get it. The teller responded by asking a surprisingly relevant question: Are you serious? This apparently flummoxed the would-be robber enough that she just left without even showing a gun.

Unbalanced

Herbert Starbird of Altoona, Pa., noticed an extra $280,276 in his bank account last October. He says that he called the bank and notified them of the mistake but that the bank said there was no mistake. So he started spending it. Then in February, the bank says it discovered the mistake and asked Starbird, 57, for the money back. It froze the account, which was down to $116,946, and seized $5,500 from Starbird's savings account. Now he has been charged with theft and receiving stolen property. The bank denies being contacted by Starbird, and says he was never told the money was his.

Hey, that's familiar

Media outlets in Germany are reporting that a bank robber has been caught. Witnesses say that Sandra Meiser, 26, was able to get away with more than $22,000 when she robbed a bank in Norf but made a mistake in trying to rob the same branch several weeks later. She was foiled when a customer who was in the bank for the first robbery recognized her. Or, at least part of her. ''He said he recognized her bottom straight away," said a bank worker. "He'd never forget something that big." Other than the rear-end size, police found other evidence linking her to the heist, and she now faces 10 years in jail.

Violation No. 2

Italian city tracks dog deposits

Authorities in Vercelli, Italy, plan to begin a database of doggie DNA in an effort to catch owners who don't clean up after their pets. Antonio Prencipe, the city's environment minister, said saliva tests will be carried out on all of the dogs in town, ANSA reported. Offending owners will be fined. A lab in Milan will charge $19 per test to match the mess with the mutt, and Prencipe is so tired of the problem, he says he'll gather the evidence himself. "I want a clean city," he said.

Compiled from Times wire services and other sources by staff writer Jim Webster, who can be reached at jwebster@sptimes.com.